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Too be honest, making social interactions is exhausting, maybe it's because I'm introverted, but I too feel lonely. I certainly don't want to die early due to l

Too be honest, making social interactions is exhausting, maybe it's because I'm introverted, but I too feel lonely. I certainly don't want to die early due to loneliness, lol what a stupid reason don't you think. There are hermits who live long lives, I think it's a better way to learn the ways of solitude than tackling these problems with paid services. This is kind of ironic how capitalism progresses to this point but the prosperity that affords the individualism causes this loneliness problem. In addition, perhaps biohacking can come into the picture in fixing the loneliness problem, for example we know fictional works can induce senses of emotions, so essentially still using technology to solve the loneliness problem but without the humans involved, like the Xiaomi chatbot in China that helps millions with their loneliness problem but beyond just the app level. An anecdote about the Paro robot mentioned in the article: a professor told me Paro robots actually caused panic in the elderly care center at first lol.

pm90 8y ago
You can't hack your way into fixing what is essentially a non-technical problem. I guess what I'm saying is that loneliness is not a pathogen that can be removed but a symptom of something you don't have (social circle, friends, intimate partners etc.) The most reasonable solution seems to be something like in the movie "Her", or in Westworld where they use humanoid robots as "good-enough" replacements for humans.
- disqard 8y ago
  Yes, technology acts as an amplifier for human intentions (Kentaro Toyama's words, not mine). Thus, fixing the underlying cause of the Seattle Freeze is the only thing that can fix the Seattle Freeze, not layering tech-based fixes on top. As someone living in Seattle since 2011, I hypothesize that most people here are sufficiently affluent that they do not need to interact meaningfully (read "make friends") with people other than their family. IMHO, this is the root cause, and I don't think that technology can change this state of affairs.
petra 8y ago
It may be possible to hack the negative effects of loneliness biologically, because loneliness's negative effect may be meditated through brain chemicals: "It showed that mice experiencing the stress of spending two weeks in social isolation had elevated levels of a brain-signaling molecule called Tac2, which in turn increases levels of a neuropeptide called NkB. The abundance of this molecule, the researchers write, might be responsible for all of the stressed-out behaviors they noticed in the mice" https://www.inverse.com/article/44885-social-isolation-mental-health-neuroscience https://www.inverse.com/article/44885-social-isolation-menta... Now maybe we could create a medicine to target those. But on the surface , it sounds like a terrible idea - because psychiatric medicines have a lot of side effects in general. But also, even if found an ideal method to remove loneliness, loneliness does seem to serve a role - without loneliness people won't create connections between each other, and probably won't care about other people(as we currently seen with smartphones, social skills and empathy declined). And sounds like a terrible way to build a society, far different from that of the hermit monk(at least in buddhism), that, while alone, is training to increase his compassion towards all other living beings.
eswat 8y ago
This is more of a societal problem and to fix that requires some re-education of people that are coming into and only have been that society for a while, namely: - Be open to strangers - Be open to chance conversations (ie: remove your damn headphones once in a while) - Introduce yourself to your neighbours and help them

pm90 8y ago

You can't hack your way into fixing what is essentially a non-technical problem. I guess what I'm saying is that loneliness is not a pathogen that can be removed but a symptom of something you don't have (social circle, friends, intimate partners etc.) The most reasonable solution seems to be something like in the movie "Her", or in Westworld where they use humanoid robots as "good-enough" replacements for humans.

disqard 8y ago
Yes, technology acts as an amplifier for human intentions (Kentaro Toyama's words, not mine). Thus, fixing the underlying cause of the Seattle Freeze is the only thing that can fix the Seattle Freeze, not layering tech-based fixes on top. As someone living in Seattle since 2011, I hypothesize that most people here are sufficiently affluent that they do not need to interact meaningfully (read "make friends") with people other than their family. IMHO, this is the root cause, and I don't think that technology can change this state of affairs.

petra 8y ago

It may be possible to hack the negative effects of loneliness biologically, because loneliness's negative effect may be meditated through brain chemicals: "It showed that mice experiencing the stress of spending two weeks in social isolation had elevated levels of a brain-signaling molecule called Tac2, which in turn increases levels of a neuropeptide called NkB. The abundance of this molecule, the researchers write, might be responsible for all of the stressed-out behaviors they noticed in the mice" https://www.inverse.com/article/44885-social-isolation-mental-health-neuroscience https://www.inverse.com/article/44885-social-isolation-menta... Now maybe we could create a medicine to target those. But on the surface , it sounds like a terrible idea - because psychiatric medicines have a lot of side effects in general. But also, even if found an ideal method to remove loneliness, loneliness does seem to serve a role - without loneliness people won't create connections between each other, and probably won't care about other people(as we currently seen with smartphones, social skills and empathy declined). And sounds like a terrible way to build a society, far different from that of the hermit monk(at least in buddhism), that, while alone, is training to increase his compassion towards all other living beings.

eswat 8y ago

This is more of a societal problem and to fix that requires some re-education of people that are coming into and only have been that society for a while, namely: - Be open to strangers - Be open to chance conversations (ie: remove your damn headphones once in a while) - Introduce yourself to your neighbours and help them